The plan was to start at East Putney so as to knock out the tricky Olympia on my second train. Since I'd have to change at Earl's Court on my way to the start anyway, I thought it best to check that Olympia services were running as planned today. Because you never know. Nothing showing on the board when I arrived, but that's to be expected. Wait a bit longer. And there's an announcement that due to points failure at Edgware Road there are no District line services between Edgware Road and HSK, and HSK and Olympia. (Not quite sure why that affects the Olympia branch. Maybe Wimbleware trains were terminating in platforms 3 and 4 at HSK meaning Olympia trains couldn't use them?) But shortly after this announcement an Olympia train appeared on the board. So I decided to chance it.
Down to East Putney, start the stopwatch on the train back and we're off! First train was very slow. Back to Earl's Court and, of course, no sign of an Olympia train. Rather than doing the sensible thing and waiting to see what happened, standard tube-challenger mentality kicked and I decided to keep on moving and come back for Olympia later. So onto the Ealing Broadway train waiting in platform 3 and off down to Turnham Green. Few minutes for a train back here then exited at Hammersmith to run to the other Hammersmith.
Arrived here to find no trains in any platforms and departure boards indicating an 18 minute wait for any train. Points failure at Edgware Road, of course. So another crazy move of running to Olympia in the fleeting hope that there would be a District line train soon. I arrived there and, of course, there wasn't a train. I had no idea when, or even if, a District line train would arrive, I couldn't bring myself to run back to Hammersmith for the train I could have caught by just waiting there, and so I eventually faced reality and abandoned this attempt. It took me 23 minutes to visit 12 stations (East Putney
Turnham Green) and nearly half an hour to not visit any new stations before I finally called it quits.Right then, what else could I do?
I've done quite a few alternative challenges now and wanted to do one I'd not done before. Points of the Compass was too long, as was SLAM, I didn't feel confident on Royal for some reason, DLR had closures that weekend, and I'd promised Casey that she could join me for Croydon Trams (she likes the song, that's why). So it was to be a Mouse.
Spent lunch figuring out door positions from apps and notes I had with me. (This is why you should always bring all your door position notes to London!) Then made a start. My route was:
Southwark
Waterloo E&C Kennington Bank Holborn Covent Garden KXSP Euston Square Moorgate Camden Town Embankment Cannon StreetWent pretty well, with not masses to say about it. Got stuck behind people on the travelators at Waterloo but got to the Bakerloo just as a train was pulling in. Got held outside E&C waiting for a platform to become available, and I'm not sure a train actually left whilst we were waiting. Either way, I just missed a Northern here which was irritating. 3 minutes or so here, and again at Kennington, but then a very good change a Bank. Got caught in crowds at Holborn (I think the Central line train I caught was right behind another very busy one) but I don't think that caused me to miss a train. I can't quite remember. Sexy doubleback at Covent Garden. Bit of a wait at KXSP for a Met. Just missed a doubleback to a Met train at Euston Square but a another Met train was along a minute later. (Obviously the points failure at Edgware Road was still playing havoc with the Circle and H&C lines, which had a knock-on effect on the Met.) Several minutes wait at Moorgate but then squeezed through the crowds trying to exit at Camden Town to make an excellent connection down the Charing Cross branch. And then another very good change at Embankment and I finished at Cannon Street in 1:29:48.
So all the trains except the Bakerloo ran fine and connections were either very good or pretty bad. I'm pleased to get sub 1.5 hours for this (just!).
Oh, and I then spent the rest of the afternoon catching a Northern City line train from Moorgate to Alexandra Palace for low-level track bashing, then walking the route of the old Muswell Hill branch line back to Highgate.